Zinsser DIF

[Tom d'Angler]

For years I have been using hot water containing a capful of fabric softener and a garden sprayer for soaking wallpaper prior to removal.

I recently graduated to using Zinsser DIF and, oh my goodness, what an amazing product. I had to persuade Mrs d'A to follow the instructions i.e. wait for 15 minutes (Mrs d'A knows best, of course ) but once she did, the paper came off in great big sheets after just one soaking, and it was thick paper too. We also used a Zinsser Paper Tiger instead of the usual roller-based wallpaper perforator and that seemed to make a huge difference as it was much easier to use and no danger of catching the ceiling or skirting. We stripped a whole room covered in 1970s thick embossed paper in less than two hours. The DIF left the walls feeling a lot cleaner too with hardly any paste residue.

Highly recommend both products.

[Puma]

I think you got lucky there Tom more than the DIf and tiger making much of a difference. The thick embossed usually comes off pretty easily,.

If you want really impressive spray on 5mm of wallpaper removing gel leave the room air tight, spray again if necessary after an hour or two. Go back after several hours and, if you have kept the paper wet, you will have the room stripped in minutes. You can also stick sheets of plastic to the gel if you want an ultra long soak / overnight.

[dynamod]

Zinsser DIF is a bit of an oddity IMHO.

On certain older papers it seems to eat right through them, but on others it's no different to any other wetting agent. There have been occasions where it really made a difference, but its all very subjective I feel.

The digestive enzyme it contains (Amylase) will work to a greater or lesser extent depending on the starch content of the paper/paste combo it's attacking I suppose, hence why it works better on some of the older papers? This is just a theory of mine, and perhaps Puma can shed some light on the chemistry of this.

At the very least, it's a good addition to have should the traditional wetting agents be ineffective.

[Tom d'Angler]

The digestive enzyme it contains (Amylase) will work to a greater or lesser extent depending on the starch content of the paper/paste combo it's attacking I suppose

Could it be that it works better on older paste because the old traditional powdered paste contained a lot of starch compared to the new-fangled ready-mixed stuff? The two pastes do "feel" (both to touch and to hang) completely different to me.

I've now used DIF on two different types of paper - the one mentioned above that was from the 70s and another one that had a shinier surface and was from 1997. The older paper virtually fell off the wall after just one soaking. The newer (but still 25 years old) paper came off easily enough but needed two soaks of DIF.

[Puma]

My feeling was always that if you managed to get the starch glue wet the paper would pull off and that it wouldn't really matter if it was digested or not. All of the glues that are sold in powdered form will rewet okay.

Some of the tub based glues will crosslink / cure a little and won't soak off so easily.

A wetting agent can help a lot for sure.

But honestly I was ridiculously happy with the gel https://www.amazon.co.uk/Solvite-Expert ... B06XCXCRCL you do need to spray it on to get the most out of it. I think I might have resprayed once maybe twice and left for 6 hours - you can imagine paper soaked for 6 hours in a warm room - I would have pulled it off for free!

[dynamod]

Solvite no less.

I'm going to give that stuff a bash next time around I think.

My late father in law's mantra was always "Keep it wet" (I sure hope he was meaning wallpaper or he was on about something else completely in that case) which with most papers does seem to work. I suspect these products are more to do with timescale than outright ease of stripping.

Did I once read that putting DIF into a steamer turns it quite dangerous or even lethal?

[Puma]

Yes Dif is dangerous if it becomes airborne in spray or steam. In fact I read one of the guys on Painters Pitstop saying he had poisoning symptoms after using it. It is fine at low levels, no problem.

For sure if you can keep any paper wet long enough it will eventually drop off and the gel and wetting agents help with that.

[Tom d'Angler]

Did I once read that putting DIF into a steamer turns it quite dangerous or even lethal?

It smells okay but I did notice something about it... I can't explain what that something was, just that I could tell it wasn't necessarily healthy to be breathing it in or letting any mist get in my eyes. (I was using a garden sprayer to put it on but I did wonder if a long pile roller would be just as or more effective and/or safer.)